


mistakes

by lionsenpai



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2017-01-06
Packaged: 2018-09-15 07:41:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9225302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lionsenpai/pseuds/lionsenpai
Summary: The older you get, the more they accumulate.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [khayr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/khayr/gifts).



> second part of khayr's ozglyn commissions!

Beacon was in ruin. 

Well into winter, the snow had piled high, making an already tedious job even harder. Thick flakes fell from the sky in a steady stream, and when Grimm weren’t returning to the site of the chaos they’d wrought, there were always scavengers of a more human variety skittering between crumbling buildings.

By now, Glynda was well acquainted to them, her crop always in hand. Though the years at Beacon had dulled her instincts, the months as the leading force behind Beacon’s revival had awakened those old habits. Glynda was never far from her crop these days. 

Paranoia, Oobleck called it. But then, Oobleck took weekends off and made regular visits home. 

Trudging through the snow - the ice and cold was the hardest part of her work now - Glynda looked out upon  _ her _ home, the broken arches and blocked doorways. The claw marks scored into cement. The dragon, which cast its shadow across the entirety of the city, a solemn, silent reminder of just what could have happened. 

Glynda set her jaw and continued on toward the section of the city she was trying to repair. 

They hadn’t been prepared. Such a long peace had made them complacent. Even when Amber had fallen, they had never imagined the enemy would strike here. They never imagined their home would fall. 

And that was precisely why it had.

If Ozpin had been there, he would have said there was no use in dwelling on the past. The only way to go was forward. Human beings made mistakes. His optimism had always toed the line of insane, Glynda reflected, but that didn’t stop her heart from clenching at the mere thought of him now. 

Glynda’s fingers tightened around the handle of her crop, and the wedding band beneath her gloves bit into her ring finger. 

A new wave of loss rose in her, but she stuffed it down immediately. She stopped in place, taking a few deep breaths. When the attack had happened, she’d decided mourning would wait until she had a body. Until then, there was too much to do here. 

Snow crunched, and before Glynda could even realize it herself, she was turned in the direction of the sound, her crop raised in defense.

Not a Grimm. And not a scavenger. 

A boy. 

With a huff, Glynda lowered her crop, shaking her head and touching her temple. The boy didn’t breathe, his hands gripping tight around the straps of his backpack. Even from here, she could see the way his knees shook. 

“What are you doing out here?” 

Already, the calculations for how long it would take to return this boy to where he’d come ran through Glynda head. A half hour of work lost, perhaps more. Perhaps it would do her good to get out of her own head. Though that might have just been wishing thinking.

“This area is off limits. Didn’t you see the signs?” Glynda asked, noticing the boy finally release a puff of air. It slipped from between his chapped lips like steam, but he still didn’t speak. Glynda felt herself frown, her already short patience thinned by so much solitude. “Your parents are going to hear about this. Where are they?”

Brown skin and healthy freckles across the bridge of his nose. The boy wore a knit cap which covered most of his hair, but there were a couple black locks which escaped. He couldn’t have been more than fifteen, but he didn’t even flinch when she strode towards him, her impressive height letting her tower over him. 

Stopping just before him, she said, “Please don’t make me find them myself. I assure you, neither of us wants - ”

“Glynda,” the boy said. As though it had occurred to him all at once. 

A pause. People knowing just who she was never ceased to take her by surprise. “Yes. My name is Glynda.”

“Glynda.” His hands dropped from the backpack’s straps and clasped in front of him. Brown eyes stared up at her, wistful and worried mingling within them. He touched his left ring finger. “Glyn.”

For a moment, Glynda felt breathless. Memories of Ozpin calling her that rose unbidden, but before she could bark at the boy not to call her that, she watched as his Aura flared. Green as deepest forests. Warm as a summer breeze. The boy touched his left ring finger. 

“Glyn, it’s me.” His voice trembled, like the words pained him. “It’s Oz.”

Glynda felt herself gape, staring down at the boy. Her heart thumped in her chest. Those eyes stared up at her, and even if they were different now, there was something undeniably familiar about them. A creeping fear rose in her, chilling her in a way the snow never managed.

Maidens and souls and a thousand other things she didn’t understand. What explained this?

Stomach dropping, Glynda reached out, taking the boy’s face in both hands. Her eyes roamed over his features, trying to suss out the truth. “Oz?”

He blinked slowly.  _ It’s me. _

“Oz,” she breathed, running her thumbs over such young features.  _ Barely fifteen. _ “Oh Oz, what have you done?”


End file.
